Forgotten Soldier, Forgotten Princess
by link-0
Summary: In AC 200, Heero Yuy and Relena Dorlain live forgotten, living ordinary lives in the postwar world. Prologue currently up.


Author Notes: Non-alternate universe, 1xR 2xH, other pairings as the fit into the story. 5 years have passed since the war, leaving allegiances and relationships and even people changed. The later chapters will develop more of the plot as well as the setting of this post-war era. However, this is merely and introductive prologue. If it piques your interest, I hope you will return anon.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is wholly owned by Bandai, sunrise, etc and I do not receive any money from this story

Forgotten Soldier

A Gundam Wing story

by link

Prologue

------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - June 13, AC 200

Heero Yuy, a man of distinguished history and undistiguished present, slammed his fist onto the desk and muttered curses at the blue screen of death that was before him. "Why won't the goddamn thing...just...work!" he growled as he tried to reign in his anger that was at the moment completely directed at the antiquated desktop he was attempting to force into submission.

"Ben, you really shouldn't talk to your computer. People will start talking." Megan, Heero's current roommate, giggled as she placed a plate of mushy-looking macaroni and cheese next the the keyboard. "Surprise! It's dinner."

Heero looked dubiously at the plate before him. The sad fact was that while Heero was a terrible cook, Megan managed to be much, much worse. "Er...thanks..." he muttered as he tried to decide whether it was worth trying to eat what was placed before him. Heero gently prodded the macaroni with his fork.

"I know it's not much...but I'm pretty sure I cooked it all the way." Megan leaned against the wall of Heero's bedroom. Heero knew she was trying to start the thing he dreaded most: small talk.

"Megan..." Heero began.

"All right, all right, I'll leave you here in your fortress of solitude. By the way, make sure you send in the electricity bill on time this time. I don't want to be sweating my ass off in New York's hottest summer since AC 150." Megan grumbled as she left the room, her last words only barely reaching his ears as she walked down the hallway.

Heero did not feel sorry for pushing her away. Instead, he admired how quickly she had learned when to leave him alone. He was not used to living with others. Glancing at his checkbook, Heero sighed. A roommate was a necessary evil.

When the war ended and Heero wanted to disappear, he found the best way to do that was blend in and become ordinary. He walked no more as Heero Yuy, instead wearing the name Benjamin Smith.

"No less a lie to be known as Benjamin Smith…" he muttered under his breath, for a moment thinking of the real Heero Yuy.

He had picked up a menial job in tech support in New York City, on the opposite side of the ocean from everything he had put behind him. The only problem with working as a low level computer technician was the money did not quite cover the cost of living. But Heero liked where he was. His job was secure. Inconspicuous. Normal. He did his job in such a manner as to not attract attention, positive or negative. Other than the laudatory remarks he would get from the office ladies when he "fixed" their normally operative systems, no one paid Heero a compliment or a rebuke.

'And here you are with a shitty computer and an annoying roommate.' he thought to himself. To be fair, Megan didn't bother him that much. She had a penchant for talking a little too much, and brought home random guys that he ran into in the bathroom a little too often, but she was kind and trustworthy, and never pressed into his past. He had found her through the newspaper classifieds, a self described "slob, bartender, and cheapskate". He did a thorough background check...or rather, had Trowa do one. She came up clean, a girl orphaned in the war at the tender age of 15 like so many others, forced to work in jobs far below their potential just to survive.

Heero sighed in exasperation piece of junk "computer" that was hardly useful for any sort of work anymore. He wanted so badly to replace it, but the realities of money and the need to tend to the necessities of life first prevented him from acting on that desire.

Heero leaned back in his chair, conceding to his computer in this round of their never ending war. He glanced down at his phone and wondered when Trowa would be calling. 'Trowa...my only connection to that life. The only one who could say for sure I even exist anymore. The one who keeps an eye on her for me.'

'Relena...' Heero's shoulders tensed as he thought of her. So many memories overcame him as he tried to fight off the urge he always had, to see her and speak to her, to explain himself to her. He was not the same man who Relena had championed during the war. Back then he had been more monster than man, driven to destroy that which stood in his way...but 5 years later he was finally coming out of that mechanical, heartless way of living. The result was a world far less certain and controllable than all the chaos the war had been.

Heero was lonely, and he had never needed friends. Heero had fears, he had been fearless. Heero missed the rush of adrenaline as he piloted Wing Zero...fought for good...had purpose. The problem with trying to just blend in, at least for Heero, was that he knew he was better, destined for greater things.

Sometimes, he feared that everything valuable he was to do in his life had already passed.

Discontent settled over him as he sat in his room with only his thoughts accompanying him. So, Heero did what he always did in these situations. He shoved his feet into worn-out sneakers and headed out to the streets of Brooklyn. He ran.

Running. The only time when his mind would be quiet.

------------------------------------------------------------

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA

Relena Peacecraft laughed uncontrollably as her constant companion Hilde Schbeiker continued the harrowing tale of how she became engaged to a certain Duo Maxwell. At the moment, she was lounging in a beach chair watching the sunset fall over the Caribbean Sea. She was also more than a little tipsy, having enjoyed at least 3 but surely no more than 4 daquiris that evening.

"So, after he had ripped the back of my dress, dumped an entire soda in my lap, and nearly given me a concussion," Hilde paused to add dramatic effect, noticing the rosiness of Relena's cheeks after 5 daquiris.

"What then?" Relena grinned and leaned in close.

"Then." Hilde leaned in as well, "He looks at me and says, 'Well Hilde, as I have embarrassed myself per usual, I do not expect you to want to spend any more time with me this evening. I don't blame you. I'll drop you off.' The look in his eyes Relena...it was SO pathetic I wanted to laugh in his face, but I could tell there was, you know..."

"Something goin on in young Maxwell's head other than ruining a per-perfectly nice date?" Relena finished, stumbling over her words less than she expected.

Hilde smiled, "Yeah...I felt like something was going on in that head of his, even then."

"So...what did you say then?"

"I turned to him, and said in my best play at a serious tone of voice at that time, 'Duo, if you give up on a date after only _three_ misshaps, you're far less than the man I thought you were.' He nodded, and then _right there_, in the _middle of the restaurant parking lot_, not five minutes after he had hit me with the car door, he dropped to one knee and proposed. I've never been more surprised in my life."

"I think it's terribly practical to give your date a good beating before you propose, so then you can make sure their answer isn't...you know...umm...crap, help me Hilde." Relena's words losing themselves in a haze of inebriation.

"Make sure their answer is real, you mean?"

"Yeah. That." Relena giggled, falling off her chair and into the soft beige sand.

"Maybe someone needs to get to her room, let's find Trowa." Hilde smiled, she had refrained from drinking since she knew Relena's tendency to overindulge.

"TROWAAA!" Relena yelled from her prone position on the sand.

"Relena, I'm not so sure he's in shouting distance," Hilde laughed at Relena's antics, offering a hand to her fallen comrade.

But Relena had been right, and sure enough Trowa stumbled towards them from the nearby outdoor bar, clearly just as drunk as Relena.

"Dear lord, I'm vacationing with alcoholics." Hilde muttered under her breath.

Hilde knew their reasons. Relena drank to hide her worries and fears. Trowa drank to hide a past he continued to forget. Her heart was with her best friend, though. Poor Relena, always continuing to worry over the state of affairs of the world even though she was now removed from the power to act on them. Keeping men out who wanted to ease the pain of her heart as her love unrequited burned for the man that had forgotten her, and been forgotten by the world. Relena feared thinking of what her life had become, and so often that meant she was living a life that had no point other than forgetting who she was.

"You know you love it Mrs. Maxwell." Relena slurred as she leaned on her blue-haired friend.

"Ah, future Mrs. Maxwell, Ms. Peacecraft." Hilde giggled.

Just as Trowa finally reached them his cell phone began to ring. Holding one finger unsteadily as a "wait a sec" motion, Trowa moved slightly away from the group and answered. "Trowa."

Hilde could hear what he was saying, as Trowa in his state was not taking precautions usually taken by a former gundam pilot. "Hey, been a while...FINE damnit…Not really, why?...why do you say that?...I am not drunk!...Well Hilde's not drunk...yeah, um..that'd be good...bye."

"Who's your friend?" Hilde smiled as she and Relena approached Trowa once again. Helping Relena stay moderately upright as they walked, she sighed as she saw the glimmers of pain and sadness shine from within her friend.

"Benjaaaamin" Trowa said, swaying a little as he joined Hilde and Relena in the short walk back to the hotel.

Relena giggled uncontrollably and began bellowing "Benjamin" in a singsong voice on their way back to the hotel. Hilde simply rolled her eyes, staying alert to the environment since her companions obviously were not.

When they finally reached their rooms, Hilde helped her drunken friend into the decadent queen sized bed. Tears were in Relena's eyes, tears of lost love that stubbornly would not fall. "Nigh nigh, Hilde."

"Good night ,Relena"

'If only he had stayed, if only Heero Yuy had stayed. But Duo says that man didn't exist anymore, so does Quatre. And Relena...Relena won't speak of him.' Hilde sighed silently and tucked the covers of the opulent comforter around her already sleeping friend.

Hilde knew he was alive. She knew he was hiding somewhere. She couldn't shrug off her doubts. She wanted to find him, and tell him what he was doing to her.

Relena needed him.

------------------------------------------------------------

End of Prologue

R&R, it's what nice people do!


End file.
